Partnership Financing Questions

[David Little]

My friend and I are looking to purchase our first investment property to basically prove concept. Our primary strategy is STR, but we have backup strategies if that falls through.

After much discussion, we do not intend to create an LLC at present, primarily because we believe insurances properly mitigates the liability risk.

I have two financing questions.

1) I suspect I’ll be able to get a better conventional loan interest rate than we could get jointly for various reasons (slightly  better credit, mortgage history, and W-2 income). Is there a legal way by which I could get the loan in my name (based on my credit) but have the liability for the loan shared between us. We would split the down payment and the mortgage payments, and I would ultimately want the responsibility for the loan shared as well.

2) My present thinking is that a conventional loan is our best bet (even is applying jointly). Are there loans out there  that can offer a better interest rate than a conventional loan? Are there loans out there that can offer <20% down payment on an investment property that is not owner occupied?

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.